March 9, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



"9 



used. When a fire sweeps through this mass of dry material 

 it burns with a heat that kills small standing trees. In peeling 

 the methods are wasteful, and very often a tree may be seen 

 that some lazy peeler has girdled by takingafour-footsectionof 

 bark from the base. The Tan Bark Oak is tenacious of life, and 

 sprouts vigorously, but the odds are against it, and it seems as 

 if in a few years this fine growth, whose future value, on even 

 a cord-wood basis, would be immense, will be destroyed to 

 secure a few lengths of bark from each tree. „ , „ 

 UWah.Cai. CarlPurdy. 



Help Against the Gypsy Moth. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest ; 



Sir, — In view of the success which has apparently crowned 

 the eflbrts of the Orange culturists of California in " fighting 

 fire with fire," or rather insect with insect, and, calling to mind 

 the warfare which is being waged in the vicinity of Boston 

 with the Gypsy Moth, I was struck with a passage I was read- 

 ing to-day in a little book entitled The Branch Builders, by the 

 late Rev. J. G. Wood, which, if my memory is not at fault, is 

 a reprint of a portion of his better-known work. Homes without 

 Hands, and which may perhaps suggest a new method of 

 meeting the invader. 



In treating of the habits of an English species akin to our 

 tent-caterpillar, he speaks of a carnivorous beetle, the larvae of 

 which are often found in the nests of this pest, and which feeds 

 voraciously on the caterpillar. The sciendfic name of this 

 beetle he gives as Calosoma sycophanta. 



The following e.xtract will show its connection with the case 

 in hand : 



" Knowing the habits of this grub, a French entomologist. 

 Monsieur Boisgerard, managed very ingeniously to avail him- 

 self of its devouring capacities. There is a well-known in- 

 sect, the Gypsy Moth, which is very common in France. The 

 larvae of this moth are destructive to trees, feeding on their 

 leaves, and then retreating to a hiding-place in some crevice 

 of the bark. Finding his trees mfested with these caterpillars. 

 Monsieur Boisgerard procured a number of female Calo- 

 somas, and placed them on the trees. They laid their eggs, 

 and in due season the larvae were hatched. In process of 

 time the destructive grubs increased so much that they ate all 

 the noxious caterpillars, and at the end of the third year the 

 trees were cleared, and the Calasoma beetles had to go else- 

 where for a living." 



"In England the Calasoma is very rare," but "in the south 

 of France it is plentiful enough, as is needed from the enor- 

 mous multitudes of crop-destroying caterpillars on which it 

 feeds." 



This plan may already have been tried or investigated, but if 

 not, it seems to me worthy of consideration, though I am 

 aware that the introduction of foreign species of animals is 

 not to be lightly entered into ; witness, the English sparrow 

 and the rabbits of Australia. 



Minneapolis, Minn. 1-rank H. Ntltter. 



[There is no doubt that certain ground-beetle larvje feed 

 upon hairy caterpillars, and the observation mentioned is 

 correct. Professor Riley writes that he has for some time 

 been urging the Gypsy M.oth Commission to send an agent 

 abroad to collect the European enemies of that insect, and 

 it is to be hoped that this will soon be done. — Ed.] 



Exhibitions. 

 Orchids at Short Hills, New Jersey. 



THE exhibition at the United States Nurseries, to which 

 Messrs. Pitcher & Manda invited the public last week, sur- 

 passed in richness of material and effectiveness of arrange- 

 ment any of the previous efforts of the firm. The main display 

 was arranged in the great Palm-house, 250 feet long and high 

 enough to accommodate superb specimens of Tree Ferns and 

 Palms. The visitor entered the house through a vestibule 

 flanked by tall Laurels and Cytisus in bloom, with the clear 

 golden yellow of Doronicums on either side of the doorway. 

 Inside the door there seemed to stretch away to an intermina- 

 ble distance a tropical forest, with its shady vistas brightened 

 by the flowers of thousands of Orchids, not crowded together, 

 but naturally and effectively placed where their soft harmonies 

 and contrasts would make the most pleasing picture. On 

 either side of this long house, and opening into it at right an- 

 gles, were other houses, making altogether a cluster of twenty, 

 each one of which was a study. One of them, for example, 



was entirely filled with Areca lutescens ; a second with Adian- 

 tums ; a third with Pandanus, and a fourth with Phoenix. Dra- 

 caenas filled another, and Areca Baueri another still ; and one 

 which contained nothing but Anthuriums and Bromeliads 

 faced another filled with Kentias and Cocos. 



It would be useless to attempt a description of all the rare 

 and beautiful Orchids that were scattered among the greenery 

 of the great house. To name them even would be a task, as the 

 list would include most of the principal species and varieties 

 in flower at this season which are prized in the great collec- 

 tions of the world. There were some 3,000 plants in bloom. 

 But among those which were particularly attractive we noted 

 a vigorous specimen of the white Coelogyne cristata. Near it 

 was the dainty little Epidendrum Endresi, and farther on were 

 the long white and fragrant spikes of Dendrochilum gluma- 

 ceum. On a stage about a huge Chamasrops were grouped fif- 

 teen specimens of the white Lycaste Skinneri, and fifty of these 

 snowy flowers are not often seen together. Among the Den- 

 drobiums was a strong plant of D. splendidissimum grandi- 

 florum, and suspended from one of the Palms was as fine a 

 piece of Angrascum sesquipedale as we have ever seen, with 

 its deep waxy cream-colored blossoms. Among the most in- 

 teresting of the different varieties of Cattleya Trianaewas Lee's 

 variety, not only rare, but wonderful for the depth and rich- 

 ness of its color. C. speciosissima was represented by a va- 

 riety remarkable for its size and for the delicacy of its pale 

 lilac blossoms. An interesting place to linger was among the 

 many distinct variefies of Odontoglossuni crispum, and near 

 these was a plant of O. Rukerianum with two large spikes and 

 fifty flowers. 



One of the houses opening into the Palm-house was full of 

 Cypripediums, which occupied both the centre stage and side 

 benches, with no plants among them except small Araucarias 

 and one row of tall ones in the centre to soften the color. 

 There were one hundred and twenty-six varieties here in bloom, 

 and more than five hundred plants. They were all seen to 

 good advantage, as the plants were separated by the soft green 

 foliage of the Araucarias. Perhaps the experts in Cypripe- 

 diums would find the greatest delight in such specimens as one 

 of Cypripedium Sallieri Heyanum, which was offered at $800, 

 or another of C. pavoninum, or a third of C. Germinyanum. 

 But besides such varieties were beautiful specimens of C. vil- 

 losum and other standard species in almost infinite variety. 

 Among the new hybrids in bloom was one named Beatrice, a 

 cross between C. Boxalii and C. Lowii, and another between 

 C. venustum and a form of C. insigne. C. Lindleyanum was 

 represented by an admirable plant with a spike more than three 

 feet long. 



Of course, the Orchids were the chief attraction, but the 

 house which was filled with Azaleas, Cytisus and bulbous plants 

 in bloom was exceedingly bright in color, and the single block 

 of houses massed on this part of the grounds had plants 

 enough to keep one occupied a day if he gave them more than 

 a cursory examination. After all, the most interesting exhibition 

 at Short Hills is the order and cleanliness and good taste shown 

 throughout all of the fifty houses now in operation. The great 

 stretches of plants in every stage of growth, from the tender 

 seedling up to the display specimens, all show good health and 

 careful cultivation, while all the operations and processes of 

 the immense establishment move on with apparent smooth- 

 ness and ease. Of Orchids alone there are said to be here 

 some 1,200 distinct species and botanical varieties, at least 400 

 horticultural varieties, and perhaps as many artificial hj'brids. 

 There are 3,000 seedlings growing, some of them hybrids be- 

 tween different genera. 



Orchids at the Eden Mus6e. 



TZpOR the sixth year in succession Messrs. Siebrecht & Wad- 

 -'■ ley have held an exhibition of Orchids and other tropical 

 plants at the Eden Mus^e, in this city. The chief interest of 

 the exhibition, as usual, centred in the Orchids, which were 

 shown in considerable variety, but first-rate specimens of 

 Palms, Cycads, Tree Ferns and other rare and valuable tropical 

 plants were also displayed. Many of these last were said to 

 have been lately brought from Trinidad, where there is a 

 branch of the Rose H-' Nurseries, in which tropical plants 

 are produced in lar'- Tntities. The plants were arranged 



with good taste, espcv,.^..^' the curtain of greenery which 

 masked the front of the balcony. One of the most interesting 

 Orchids in Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley's collection was a new 

 form of Cattleya labiata which had a larger lip, a deeper color, 

 and was altogether of thicker texture than the original type. 

 There were good plants of Cattleya splendidissima, C. Schroe- 

 derae and C. Aspasia, and many other choice forms of C. 



